Clever Housewife

Bringing Stories to Life with Pajanimals Board Books & Plush Toys

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New Pajanimals board books and plush toys help bring stories to life for preschoolers. See how I received my own Pajanimal board book and toy for review and used it to help my daughter become an engaged reader. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Have you ever read a book that just really came alive for you? I love enjoying a good book and have read many stories that have made me feel like I am right there in the middle of the story. Its those books that I just don’t want to get to that last page, because the characters have become close friends with me, and I. know reaching the end will be like saying goodbye to them.

As a mom of two young children, I want to help my kids develop that kind of relationship with reading. I want them to know that they can experience being pirates on a treasure island, explores in the jungle or astronauts in outer space just by opening the pages of a well loved book.

As a preschool teacher, I have learned that one of the best times to foster this type of experience is during the early childhood years. However, I also know that it can be a challenging to get an active preschooler to sit through an entire story.

For this reason, I was really excited to learn more about the new Pajanimals Board Book series. These adorable board books feature characters that your child may already be familiar with from the newest Jim Henson show the Pajanimals which airs daily on Sprout or Saturday mornings on NBC. Each story helps children learn to resolve conflicts as their Pajanimals friends experience and solve problems unique to preschools in their own fun “Pajanimal” way!

Pajanimals Board Books

My favorite feature is that some of the books are “sticker stories”. In these books each page has a few spots to stick in reusable “window-cling” style stickers that come with the book. I read, “Sweet Pea Sue Makes a New Friend” with my 2 year old daughter and it was so fun to let her actually be a part of the reading experience by letting her find and arrange the stickers in the book. I think that it adds another dimension to the story, that I feel not only grasps her attention,but also allows her to experience the story rather then just hearing it.

Reading board books

Another way that I like to help children experience a story rather just hearing it, is by acting out the story with a puppet or favorite stuffed animal. I enjoy doing this in my own family as well as with my preschool classes, because I love seeing the look on a child’s face when they see the story coming to life for them. It is especially fun when I have a stuffed animal that is an actual character from the story!

For this reason, I was really excited to learn that along with their board book series, plush “Pajanimals Pals” by TOMY will be released this Fall and Holiday Season (available at Amazon.com and Walmart.com)

Pajanimals Plush Toys
I was lucky enough to preview the “Sweet Pea Sue” Pajanimal Pal and she was adorable! She is a plush animal head attached to silky blanket body, which makes it fun for little hands to cuddle with. The blanket feature also made it easy to use our Sweet Pea Sue as a puppet to help us act out the story as we read the board book. My daughter loved every minute of it, and between the stickers and “puppet” she was thoroughly engaged in the story.

To help parents find more ideas for helping make stories come to life for their children, Jim Henson Company and the Pajanimals have partnered with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in their “get caught reading” campaign. You can visit their website Get Caught Reading, for more information, tips, and to order a free Pajanimals “get caught reading” poster (just pay shipping).

Now for a giveaway! One lucky reader will win the same Pajanimals board book for their little one! To enter, leave a comment below with who you would like to gift this book to and why. Giveaway will end at 11:59pm October 1st.

 

Leanne Cox is a guest writer for CleverHousewife.com. She is a stay-at-home mom to two kids, and a credentialed preschool teacher. Leanne teaches “mommy-and-me” and “preschool style” music & movement classes through her business “Little Stars Music & Movement Classes” . She is passionate about encouraging early childhood education through hands on learning and exploration

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle N. Downing says

    I would gift this book to my daughter, Faith, because I want to instill in her a love for reading like I have had since I was a young child.

  2. Crystal Jaycox says

    I would love to win one of these to give to my daughter, Chloe. She absolutely loves the show and reading and I am positive she would absolutely love it!

  10. Ashley M says

    I would love to gift one of these to my toddler, Maddilyn, because you can never have to great a love for reading.

  12. Colleen Fuller says

    My daughters! I need some more books for story time and their birthdays and Christmas are coming up at the same time 🙂 They will be 2 and 3 in December! Thank you! <3

  14. kim dant says

    I would LOVE to have these for my grand daughter… That is our special time together.. To READ!!
    She can’t get enough books read to her!!!

  15. Jackie Chambers says

    I would probably split them between my daughter and my niece! Both are big readers and would love to win.

  16. Nichole Baker says

    Today is my youngest daughters 3rd birthday. She LOVES books and I would give them to her as a LATE birthday surprise.

  18. Darcy says

    I would gift this to my cousin because she is a single working woman who took on fostering 3 children(her nephews and neice 6, 2, and 6mos) from her 1/2 sister who lost custody. I have helped her gather toys and especially books for them as they love them but did not get to come to her with anything but what little clothes they had.

  25. Rebecca Anderson says

    I would gift this book to my little girl, because she loves her Pajanimals dvd of the tv show!

  33. Peggy Humbracht says

    I have several grandchildren that would love this, ages 4 mo.-3 yrs. How fun this would be for them. Books are so important in a child’s book and an interaction book makes it more so to keep their interest.

  41. Katherine says

    I would give this to my friend Tammi who is 4 months pregnant so she can share it with her new baby coming up.

  42. Hope says

    I would love to win one of these for my 3 yr old daughter! She loves books, and these look so cute! Why have I not heard of these before???

  45. Gay Stewart says

    I love to give books as gifts to all ages! I would love these books to share with my first new grandbaby!! These are awesome books.

  49. Stacy Duncan Kisby says

    Hi.. 1st of all.. Your baby girl is adorable (and no, this is not a kiss-up!) lol and Just because my granddaughter’s name happens to be “Emily” means nothing..lol OK, OK Now down to seriousness.. My granddaughter Emily loves books. From the time she could sit up, we, ( her parent’s, and Pop-Pop and Nana -when we babysit) left a book in her crib , so when she awoke in the morning she could look at them and spend time quietly waking. She will be 2 on December 21st. (Emily is due to have a baby sister soon! ) For the 1st time this past weekend, I saw her watching the Pajanimals I personally had never seen the show. I was very impressed with how she reacted to the program and interacted with it as well. This would make such a lovely gift for Emily on the day of her little sister’s birth! It would be so great to make her feel included and as special at that particular moment in time. Good Luck Everyone! Yes, yes.. I know I wrote a lot! :o) ~ Stacy

  52. Rebbekka Howard says

    I would give it to my son, Ezekiel! He just loves books and loves to pretend to read. He always likes to read after I read to him and comes up with his own version of the story. It would be an awesome gift to give to him for his birthday!

  53. Stacy Duncan Kisby says

    Hi Emily Lyon!
    I’ll have you know.. I knew the little girl in the video was not Emily’s little girl (the child in the video is adorable as well) Her little girl is a pretty little red head! “Bea” is a doll! I guess I should have clarified that!! So there!! LOL PS I love your name!! :o)

  54. Cathy says

    I want to give the books to my son and daughter. We read one book in the morning and one at night. They always get so excited when I have a new book for them.

  56. Tammy Aguilera says

    I would love to give these books to my Autistic grandson Joshua for Christmas. He LOVES the Pajanimals! Since I have not been able to work since 2011 and have no income (waiting on SSI claim to be approved) I have not had money to get things for my 6 grandchildren. Especially at Christmas and birthdays I feel so sad and like I am not a good Grammy because I have nothing to give them. It would be such a tremendous blessing for our family.

  57. Lynn Celmer says

    I would gift this book to my best friend’s daughter Anabelle. I think she would love it. 🙂

  59. Katri Hoban says

    I would really like to give this to my daughter who is trying her hardest to really get going I her reading. I know that this would help encourge her even more!

  60. Nicole says

    My son David loves this show! We watch it every night before bed, I would love to read him one of the stories before singing the lullaby.

  62. Kathy says

    I LOVE books for children because, as both a Mom and a teacher, I believe a love of reading really is really helpful in leading to a lifetime of learning!
    Since my girls are grown, I’d either donate the book to a needy child at Christmas, OR give it to my great niece, Gillian.
    Thanks for the chance! These sound great!

  65. Ruth Anderson says

    I would gift this book to my grandson who just entered pre school ,fantastic giveaway ,thanks for chance to win .

  67. Kim N says

    would love to keep them here at my house so all my grandkids could enjoy them. Reading time is special!

  68. Michelle Smith says

    These would be a gift for my dd who is 18 months. She is always trying to “read” the bigger kids books and she loves to be read to.

  69. Brittni Shuttleworth says

    I would love to gift this to my daughter, Victoria! She is 3 and loves to help me read! She is learning her letters and loves to point out her favorite ones “T”, “S” & “F”, when we are reading! She LOVES the Pajanimals and would love to have big girl Pajanimal books to find her favorite letters in!

  70. Andrea Waters says

    My grandson is 16 months old. He loves reading time with “Grammie” in our special snuggly chair.

  71. Yesi says

    I would probably split them between my daughter and my niece! Both are big readers and would love to win!!!

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